Law enforcement, paramilitary and military vehicles transport officers and soldiers into potentially hazardous environments. It is common that these individuals will bring both personally worn weapons and additional weapons, including shotguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, and other tactical weapons. When an officer, agent or soldier requires additional firepower, they turn to readily available weapons that are carried within the vehicle in a vehicle mounted rack. The simplest of racks include a simple u-shaped clamp that is biased so as to provide a frictional hold on the stock and/or barrel of the weapon. However, these racks are constructed to accommodate traditional weapons having a stock and action. Modern law enforcement and military weapons now include fore grips that are mounted on the barrel that can accommodate one or more mountable accessories, including laser sighting systems, illumination devices and other mechanisms.
Accessory mounts for weapons began with the development of the Weaver rail mount system that was the first standardized scope mount for rifles. The mount was improved in the 1980s and became the Picatinny rail system, a universal accessory system for military and paramilitary weapons. The Picatinny rail device has now relocated the fore grips on many military and paramilitary weapons systems. Today, one or more accessories can be mounted, including but not limited to tactical lights, laser aiming modules, night vision devices, reflex sights, fore grips, bipods and bayonets. Picatinny rails and accessories have relocated iron sights in the design of many firearms and are now incorporated into pistol frames and grips. Picatinny rail device locking slot dimensions are standardized such that the slot width is 5.23 mm. The slot centers are spaced apart by 10.01 mm. Weaver rail mount system slots are less standardized, but have a uniform slot width of 4.57 mm. Accessories can be attached and detached by sliding them onto the rail from one end or the other, by clamping with bolts, thumbscrews or levers; or onto the slots between the raised sections or the rails.
It would be desirable to provide a firearms attachment system that can be mounted onto a wall or other vertical or non-vertical support member, or onto or inside a vehicle that can interengage with a Picatinny rail device, Weaver rail mount or other accessory rail mount system and thereby removably secure the weapon to the lock. It would be further desirable to provide an attachment system to which further accessories can be removably attached.